Mass Effect Omnibus, Volume 2

Mass Effect (Dark Horse Comics) #5-7

by Mac Walters, Jeremy Barlow

Dark Horse and Bioware's canonical continuation of the smash-hit video game is now available in an affordable omnibus format!

Mass Effect Creative Director Mac Walters takes the helm once again in the vibrant, engaging world of BioWare's blockbuster science fiction epic! This exciting volume follows the career of an agent involved with Cerberus as she investigates the lives of those closest to Commander Shephard, the greatest hero in the galaxy. Collects Mass Effect: Foundation #1-#13, "Blasto: Eternity is Forever," and "He Who Laughs Best" from Free Comic Book Day 2013!

Genres: Comics, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Video Games, Fiction

356 pages, Paperback

First published February 21, 2017

About the author

Mac Walters is a writer, director, and producer, known for his work on Jade Empire, the Mass Effect series, and Anthem. He's an author of games, novels and comics including the New York Time's bestselling Mass Effect: Redemption series. He was nominated for a Bafta for his writing on Mass Effect 3.

Mac is known for his intricate, deeply detailed futuristic universes populated by memorable characters who find themselves thrust into extraordinary circumstances.

Reviews

[Kath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very happy I found this in my local library. More comics/graphic novels in libraries, please.

[Sesana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Part the backstory for Maya Brooks, previously seen only in the Citadel DLC, and part Homeworlds type stories for most of the ME companions that miniseries didn't cover. And it's dreadful. This is allegedly written by Mac Walters, head writer for Mass Effect 2 and 3. I'd be shocked if he actually wrote anything other than the story treatment. For one, the writing is just plain not good. The best ideas in the world don't matter if the execution sucks. For another, it doesn't always conform to the canon set by the games. Easiest example: Mordin says in ME2 that working on the updated genophage was a years-long project. In the issue dedicated to him, the whole thing takes a single month. Aside from contradicting the words that came directly out of his mouth in the game, it just doesn't sense that even Mordin could complete the project in 30 days. I think what actually happened here is that Mac Walters provided a very brief story synopsis to a writer or writers who didn't actually know much about ME and didn't care to find out, then never checked what they wrote. This is a pattern with Bioware related media: crank it out to make the coin, and it doesn't matter if it's good.

Even all that aside, this is two different miniseries awkwardly smashed together to make one 13 issue series for no good reason. I suppose it would be possible for a good writer to make the Maya Brooks story work with a collection of past events in the lives of ME characters, but there are no good writers to be found here. Instead, we forget about Maya for sometimes a couple issues at a time. Which would be fine, except that it leaves huge gaps in her life that I thought this was supposed to answer. She goes directly from child slave on a human mining colony to Cerberus agent, with no explanation of how she got from one to the other or where her xenophobia came from. Also, Kai Leng keeps showing up to be obnoxious.

As a whole, this simply isn't good. There are a couple of decent issues that look like bright spots next to the rest of this crap. The Wrex issue is kind of fun, and the Joker free comic book day super short issue works. Neither of them are actually written well, of course. If you think you're going to get something new out of this series, you won't. Instead, you'll just wonder when Bioware decided that they could publish anything with ME on it and make money, without any sort of quality control required.

[Allison Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggled with Volume 1, which had an even mix of hit-or-miss stories for me, Volume 2, however held my attention and pulled me right back into the Mass Effect world again. The Foundation series was fantastic, seamlessly weaving the histories of beloved crew members among Brooks' history with Cerberus. This is followed up with a short account of how Joker came to pilot the Normandy, which ends up being nothing less than I would have expected from the spirited Mr. Moreau. And then, out of the blue, we are graced with a little adventure following Blasto the Hanar Spectre.
So. much. fun. Especially if you like to read out loud using your Hanar voice. Just sayin'.
Any fan of the games who's just dying to fill in the lore with a little more depth will have fun with this collection.

[Marcin Kowalski · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a giant pile of fan service... excellent fan service.
The overall story is yet another deliberate set up for one of the game trilogies more prominent DLCs, but that does not detract from it. The Cylon gods know how many tie ins are pure garbage, hard to like even by hardcore fans. This is quality material, which is beautifully and smartly interwoven with one-shot short stories, that make sense in the way, they are presented here. Not all is perfect, but the scripts, the art and the overall are really good.
I never had so much fun with Mass Effect outside of the original trilogy of games!

CAUTION: As said, this is yet another tie in, a prequel to the CITADEL DLC. If you have not played this, you will get massivly spoiled. The story also does not really conclude in this book. For the whole story you need to play the game. But almost all Mass Effect tie in material is structured this way.

[Shyue Chou Chuang · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a game-related comic which fills the back story of some of the supporting and secondary characters in the game. The main narrative arc centres around a rather nasty agent, Rasa, who is self-serving and has her own objectives, otherwise, the narrative is a rather confused series of flashbacks, tangential side stories and more. The artwork is competent but uninteresting. The stories are mostly about betrayals and deaths, with most panels involving firefights and fight-related dialogue. One doesn't get a sense of the worlds of Mass Effect.

The comic would be of interest to people who are fans of Mass Effect.

[Václav · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second omnibus collection of Mass Effect fanservice, mostly following time before Shepard's "ressurection". The main dozen issue arc followed by single issues/mini-arcs works actually better than the first omnibus, giving us sneak peek. Nevertheless, it still feels like some accompanying material to the game, the story to story. Art is, well fine. It's mainstream with sloppy parts here and there, nothing to please, nothing to really offend. As the fan of ME games, I'm quite happy to peak once again to ME universe. But there is almost nothing more than that.

[Hali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this Omnibus a more than the first one. I liked the visual representation of the backstories companions have told in-game, and the added stories that just fill in some cracks. I liked the art better in this one than I did in the first one, too.

[Robert Theiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with all the other Mass Effect Comics/Books, this would be mostly appreciated by readers who at least played the first installment of the original Trilogy. This volume build on the events of the first game vastly expanding the Mass Effect universe.

[Dominic · Rating 2 out of 5]

mostly fan service

[Jason Goodrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would be 5 stars but missing Tali so looses a star!

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

So glad I read these comics. They really helped fill in some information that was only touched on in the games.

[B. Zelkovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun collection that gives a lot of background on the characters in ME:2. Only thing I can complain about is that Garrus isn't in it all. What kind of Mass Effect story is it if everyone's favorite Turian isn't in it?

[Sebastien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going back to those characters feel good, in a vast universe. It 's a bit weird since you are not living those stories as Shepard . those stories are OK the art too but this is really for fan of the games . they don't really stand on their own.

but it is a nice fix before going back in with Andromeda.

[Drucilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This omnibus feels a bit more haphazard than the previous one, which is weird since (almost) the entire thing is one mini-series (Mass Effect: Foundation). I think the problem with it is that it's supposed to follow "the career of agent involved with Cerberus as she investigates the lives of those closest to Commander Shepard", but more often than not, Rasa feels like an afterthought. Some of the stories don't have her in them at all. And because we don't get a lot of time with Rasa, it's hard to sympathize with her. I'm not even sure I know why I'm supposed to. The omnibus gets a 3 star rating anyway because the side stories are still cool.